https://nathandyer.me/
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 03:19:05 +0000Buying to Lasthttps://nathandyer.me/2019/02/11/buying-to-last.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/02/11/buying-to-last.html<p>(Just a heads up: this post is not an advertisement, despite a paragraph that may lead you to believe otherwise. I am in no way compensated by Speed Queen, nor do I endorse their products. Get whatever appliances you want, what do I know, I’m an idiot.)</p>
<p>I moved back into my house this week after a few months away recovering from a broken ankle/leg and the requisite surgery that followed. The first evening back I washed the clothes that had sat crumpled and ignored in the hamper for two months, and then decided to change my bed linens which had been soiled by vermin in my absence (shoutout to the mouse that made a nest in my pillowcase).</p>
<p>I started doing laundry around 4:30pm. At 11:00pm I was still doing laundry. It wasn’t a gargantuan pile of laundry or anything, it was merely one load of darks and one load of whites. So why did it take over six hours? Because my washer and dryer are shot. My washer actually isn’t too bad - it’s a 1970s model, and aside from being way too freaking small and occasionally eating an item of clothing in the agitator mechanism, it’s fairly reliable. The real issue is my dryer, an early 2000s model I’m guessing, which doesn’t so much dry clothes as gently toss them around until they’re somewhere in the neighborhood of lukewarm. It takes well over two hours for a load of laundry to dry on a good day.</p>
<p>Now there are some obvious reasons why this is a concerning issue:</p>
<p>#1. This could very easily burn my house down
#2. It’s a collossal waste of electricity
#3. It’s a collossal waste of time
#4. Seriously, it’s a thousand wonders it hasn’t burnt my house down</p>
<p>My father kindly pointed all this out to me over the phone (as if I weren’t aware), and made the point that I could have already purchased a new dryer with the added cost to the electrical bill I’m paying to run the dryer for hours longer than necessary. It just so happens that Dad is an assistant store manager at a large nationwide retail home improvement chain. “I’ve got some nice scratch and dent models that are only $300!” But he knows I’m holding out for a particular brand and model. I don’t want any old crappy mass-produced, consumer-grade, disposable dryer. Through exhastive, comprehensive internet research I have determined that if you want a long-lasting, reliable, high-quality washer and dyer, you have to buy a Speed Queen. This company uses real gears and produces appliances that last for decades at a time. Even their consumer line is commerical-grade. Unfortuantely, quality comes with a hefty price tag, and Dad knows this. “You could have bought 3 new dryers for the price of one of those Speed Queens!” he tells me.</p>
<p>He’s right. Of course he is. I could have bought three dryers for just one of the others. Even if I have to replace it three times, I’d still break even on the financial side. And yes, my problems could have already been solved by now. But is price all that really matters?</p>
<p>Isn’t there something to be said about craftsmanship? About making something that is dependable? About fighting planned obsolescence? About buying something once, maintaining it, repairing it if it breaks, and keeping the thing for the majority of your life? Isn’t that the environmentally responsible option? Isn’t it a little like sticking it to the man, fighting the rampant scourge of capitalism and consumerism? Isn’t that how things should be?</p>
<p>Every decision in life has trade-offs. I’m way too analytical. I’m way too idealistic. I’m cursed with a desire to research the best products ad naseum to find what best fits with not only my needs, but also my priciples. This means that I often end up with overpriced, long-lasting things that perfectly suit my lifestyle.</p>
<p>It also means my clothes are often cold and soggy.</p>
Mon, 11 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000Podcasts Don't Belong in Siloshttps://nathandyer.me/2019/02/10/podcasting-silos.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/02/10/podcasting-silos.html<p>This week the news of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18213462/spotify-podcasts-gimlet-anchor-acquisition">Spotify buying two well-regarded podcast production companies</a> came across my desk. It is reasonably well known that I am of the opinion that bundling podcasts in with music apps is a terrible idea from a user experience perspective, but those feelings alone weren’t what caused this news story to stick in my craw. No, what really twists my knickers is that this is the antithesis of the spirit of podcasting.</p>
<p>Exclusivity is anathema to podcasting. The technical and social infrastructure it’s built upon is not an accident, and through nothing short of a miracle it has remained untainted for nearly fifteen years. Even Apple, which inarguably helped podcasting grow to what it is and left its mark on the technology eponymously for all time (even long after the devices it was named for stopped being sold), took pains to keep podcasting independent and decentralized. They could have required people to upload content directly to Apple’s own servers, and could have made a proprietary subscription format instead of the standardized RSS technology that podcasting is actually built upon, but they didn’t. They embraced this openness, or at least they didn’t fight it. They even made many of their APIs open for any developer to build upon (which Vocal takes great advantage of, as iTunes supplies the podcast directory in it).</p>
<p>The same thing that makes me so excited about, and so proud to work on, open source software is the exactly same thing that I’ve always loved about podcasts. Anyone with a microphone and an internet connection can create an absolutely riveting, handcrafted radio or television program. Creators can make content about topics that are important to them. Sometimes that leads to massive, public successes (looking at you, <em>Serial</em>), and sometimes it leads to a niche podcast beloved by a tiny, yet devoted audience. But either way, as a result we end up with hundreds of thousands of shows producing new, reguarly updated episodic entertainment for us to enjoy, which is completely free and entirely accessible to everyone.</p>
<p>That’s why I wince when I read sentences in articles saying that these new aquisitions will “lock more original content to the service, and could draw people over from rivals like Apple Podcasts or Stitcher” (from the linked Verge article above). That’s not what podcasting is about. I’m concerned that in the future we will have little silos of podcast-like content, where one must subscribe to a particular company’s service to gain access to a locked-away show that will only play in DRM-encumbered, closed-source apps provided directly by the hosting company. I’m not interested in that future, and will not support any show or platform that intends to make it a reality.</p>
Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000WAZE and DUI Checkpointshttps://nathandyer.me/2019/02/06/waze-dui-checkpoints.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/02/06/waze-dui-checkpoints.html<p>Paranoia is not an especially healthy characteristic to possess, or God forbid, nurture. I try to avoid it as much as possible and anchor to reality, while still remaining as alert and hypervigilant to the state of the world as possible. Healthy skepticism is a beneficial lens with which to view the world, but paranoia is one step too far. That said, I must admit to a certain degree of it in a number of areas, perhaps most notably so when it comes to software that I do not have the ability to audit that knows more about me than I am comfortable. Case in point, navigation and community driving aggregation software like Waze.</p>
<p>I’m of two minds when it comes to apps like Waze. On the one hand, I’m hesitant to recommend it, or even personally use it very much, because I’m paranoid this data is being scooped up and given to insurance and advertisement companies. Insurance companies want to know if customers like to speed, or change lanes frequently, or make illegal u-turns. Those that do are more likely to get in accidents, and therefore deserve higher premiums (in their warped minds, anyway). Likewise, advertisement companies would love to know all the stores I visit and the places that hold my interest so they can better target ads to me. Do they need to use Waze to do it? Of course not, smartphones tattletale all the time (to varying degrees of success depending on apps and OSes). Still, if we’ve learned anything in recent years (generally speaking), it’s that app developers don’t seem to care about protecting users’ privacy, and advertisers are willing to pay high prices for such data. Google, Waze’s parent company, certainly has demonstrated a disregard for user privacy in recent years.</p>
<p>That said, I do see the value in community-powered driving apps like Waze. It is often helpful to know when there are accidents ahead, or roadwork that would slow you down, or even a police officer trying to catch someone speeding. Being aware of such things, and having the option to avoid them or at least prepare for them in advance, is a tremendous benefit.</p>
<p>This evening I was watching the nightly news with my dad when we heard the story that the <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/02/07/nypd-demands-google-waze-stop.html">New York Police Department sent a ceast and decist letter to Google</a> asing them to stop allowing Waze users to report covert police activity such as DUI checkpoints and traffic camera locations. It was interesting to me how different peoples’ reactions to that could be. Dad said something to the effect of “that’s good, Waze shouldn’t do that - catching drunk drivers is important and giving that information away could mean people die.”</p>
<p>My view was the total opposite to his: for one, it seems clear to me that no matter what, you can’t stop people from sharing this information. If a proprietary, centralized navigation vender is forced to stop doing this, the technological capability still exists. Another service will step in to take its place. Maybe it will be another individual company, or maybe it will be some decentralized, darkweb-esque alternative. As I often quote from the movie <em>Serenity,</em> “you can’t stop the signal.” If people want to share this information with other people, that information is going to be shared, end of story. Legality simply doesn’t factor into it. If it did, however, this seems to me a very obvious example of protected free speech. If you tell me I can’t tell other people where a checkpoint is, that’s a clear case of intruding on my first amendment rights. There are arguments to be made related to charges of Obstruction of Justice, but they don’t apply in this instance. This <a href="https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1115/headlight-flashing">has already been tested in the courts</a>, as it bears a very strong resemblance to a similar case that involved whether or not people have a right to flash their headlights to oncoming cars to alert them to police presence. In that situation, the court ruled that alerting other drivers was a form of free speech, and is therefore constitutionally protected.</p>
<p>So regardless of whether or not I think people <em>should</em> use apps like Waze in the first place without being able to know for sure what data they are recording and who they are sharing it with (and I’m still on the fence about it myself), it seems obvious that allowing users to share information that is counter-productive to law enforcement efforts is something that still has to be permitted. You can’t stop it, and even if you could, the users have the right to do it. Yes, it may make such law enforcement efforts more ineffective. Yes, it may be a contributing factor to a DUI-related event that very well could cause real people harm. That ultimately doesn’t matter. In order to have freedom, you sometimes have to give up some securities or assurances. You have to take risks. You have to weigh the potential costs versus the guaranteed benefits.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, only one thing is certain: you can’t stop the signal.</p>
Wed, 06 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000Thoughts on OpenStreetMaps and DuckDuckGo (Winding the Clock)https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/29/openstreetmaps_duckduckgo.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/29/openstreetmaps_duckduckgo.html<p>Although I’m happy to see a competitor to Google and Google Maps emerging in the newly announced collaboartion between <a href="https://spreadprivacy.com/duckduckgo-apple-mapkit-js/">DuckDuckGo and Apple</a>, I must admit to some disappointment to see it supplant the existing OpenStreetMaps integration. I’ve been contributing to OpenStreetMaps <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/nathandyer">off-and-on</a> for a while now. It seems to me like datasets pertaining to something as important as mapping the world ought to belong to everyone, and not one particular company. While I understand that it takes a fair amount of capital and labor to accurately map and maintain updated records of businesses and locations of interest, and such information could be a potential revenue stream for a company, it nevertheless appears to me that such information belongs to the public at large. Giving completely open access, and similarly allowing everyone to pitch in and keep the information accurate and updated, seems like the right way to go.</p>
<p>I am aware, of course, that Google Maps is going to continue being the de facto standard for mapping. I also know that very few people use OpenStreetMaps, particularly here in the United States. Previously, though, the two big users for OSM data were DuckDuckGo and Maps.Me, a GPS app that seems to be relatively popular in many parts of the world. Now, the DuckDuckGo integration is no more. I can’t help but worry that OSM usage will decrease, and likewise the number of contributors will go down.</p>
<p>I’ve been reading a compilation of various letters called <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/-9781452134253"><em>Letters of Note</em></a>, and one of the ones that struck me was <a href="http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/wind-clock-for-tomorrow-is-another-day.html">a letter from E.B. White to an acquaintance</a> in which he wrote “I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.” That quote has been rolling around in my head often since then, and I can’t help but think of it now. I will continue contributing to OpenStreetMaps, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.</p>
Tue, 29 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000Using a Magic Trackpad 2 in Linux 4.20https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/27/magic-trackpad-2-linux.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/27/magic-trackpad-2-linux.html<p>A couple months ago <a href="https://github.com/torvalds/linux/pull/332">I saw that support for the Apple Magic Trackpad 2 was being added to the 4.20 Linux Kernel</a>. Once upon a time, around 2011 or so, I used the original Magic Trackpad as my daily driver for all my cursor manipulation needs. I found it really enjoyable and precise, particularly when it came to scrolling through code and reading lengthy articles, and recommended it often to people whenever they’d ask. Unfortunately, as time progressed there were some regressions in the Linux drivers that made it not work as reliably, and a veritable smorgasbord of odd Bluetooth behaviors and downright failures caused me to fall out of love, so I dumped it like a crappy prom date. I also hated having to keep putting AA batteries in it like a caveman (and yes, I know that you can buy rechargable ones - you’re talking to the one moron on the planet that bought the $29 Apple ones).</p>
<p>But with this new-found support, and easy access to the hardware thanks to one I had been using off-and-on at work with my MacBook Pro, I decided to give it another go. I installed the (at the time) beta kernel, monkied around with the configuration files (which I don’t think is required any more), and just like that, I was in trackpad heaven.</p>
<p>The Magic Trackpad 2 is a considerable improvement over the original in a number of ways. For one, this thing is big — damn big — and that’s a good thing. The surface area is dramatically larger, and navigating over the content is a dream. Doing three-finger and four-finger gestures is simple. Scrolling is a pleasure. The size is of course the main improvement. But it also has a lithium-ion battery that lasts for ages and charges via the lightning connector you’ve come to know and like well-enough from Apple. That said, aside from when I take it out to coffee shops or libraries (so basically never), I leave it plugged in directly over USB. Doing it this way bypasses all of the disappointing peculiarities of Bluetooth which are still, after lo these many years, a tremendous day-to-day pain. The new Linux driver thankfully supports both Bluetooth and hardwired USB modes, and can jump back and forth seamlessly.</p>
<p>One could probably complain here that it has taken so long to get support for the device in Linux, but it’s not any Linux developers’ fault. Apple has characteristically kept everything locked away and proprietary. As I understood it, a Google engineer with a particular love for the device reverse-engineered the driver and created a compatible open source alternative. God bless bored and frustrated engineers.</p>
<p>All of this is to say, if you’re a Linux user and are at all curious about it, I would highly recommend picking one up. It is now the device I use all day every day, and I have to say I’m really loving it.</p>
Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000Thoughts on USB-Chttps://nathandyer.me/2019/01/24/thoughts_on_usb_c.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/24/thoughts_on_usb_c.html<p>Since the moment I first heard about it I’ve really liked USB-C from both a theoretical and philosophical standpoint, but over the past month being away from home I’ve come to appreciate it on a whole new, visceral level. Naturally, part of my newfound appreciation stems from having new devices that actually use USB-C. I know it seems like such a miniscule and unimportant thing, but the way it has improved my day-to-day life shouldn’t be understated, especially as of late with a broken ankle.</p>
<p>While laying in my bed, particularly during the most challenging parts of this medical ordeal, I found it difficult to get up and dig around in my backpack for dongles and cords. I have a nice USB-C charger plugged into the wall outlet beside my bed and a fairly lengthy cable attached to it, so being able to use it to charge not only my cell phone but my Nintendo Switch was lovely. And it really made me realize how badly I’d love for my laptop to charge over USB-C. There was one time when the battery on it died and I had to ask someone to grab the one compatible (and proprietary) charger from under my desk, bring it to me, and plug it in. If my laptop supported it, I could leave a charger pretty much everywhere I go, and carry just one single cable around with me. That would be pretty great! I’m going to make an effort to move to a laptop that charges using USB-C this year. I’d also like to buy an ereader (most likely a Kobo) that uses it - then nearly every electronic device in my life would be interchangable and simple.</p>
<p>In terms of design, I have to be honest and say that I don’t really like the shape or fit of USB-C as much as the lightning cables I’m used to with my Apple devices. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels less sturdy when inserted into the device (the connector itself always feels slightly… wigglier). That said, I’d gladly take the compromise if we could live in a world where everything just used USB-C. I’m happy to see it finally getting widely adopted, and I think in 2019 pretty much all devices will have it as the primary connector. Long live really nice open hardware standards.</p>
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000On The Mendhttps://nathandyer.me/2019/01/21/on_the_mend.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/21/on_the_mend.html<p>Friday evening was my 6 week follow-up with my orthopaedist. I went into the appointment with two specific goals: I wanted to be well enough to start putting weight on my foot and perhaps even cut down to one crutch, and I wanted desperately to be given the green light to drive my stick shift pickup truck (a campaign to which I assigned the hashtag #OneClutchOneCrutch). After being called back to the examination room I was sent to have new X-Rays. With that task completed, the doctor came in, reviewed the results, checked my foot, and performed various tests to make sure I could still feel and move my foot in various ways. With everything to his satisfaction, I was thankfully cleared for pretty much everything I hoped for.</p>
<p>The doctor said I could drive my truck, but that I should give it a week first to get used to the pressure on my foot again, and that I should then take it somewhere with absolutely no traffic and practice for a while. When he told me this I looked over at my mom and smiled. She knew what I was thinking. The doctor said give it a week, but I heard <em>there’s no medical reason why you couldn’t drive immediately.</em></p>
<p>I’m supposed to start walking in my Airboot, and can put up to 50% of my weight on my foot. Two weeks later I transition to 100% weight (still using the boot). In four weeks I am free to walk normally, without the boot. I can thankfully see the end in sight. As for the one crutch thing, the doctor told me that I can use one crutch when I’m comfortable enough to choose to do so. As of right now, I found out, I’m not ready to go to one crutch. Maybe in a couple weeks I will be. Until then, I can “crutch walk,” which involves putting my foot down on the ground but still using my crutches to help take some of the weight. It’s not as fast as normal walking, but pretty darn close.</p>
<p>I also asked about physical therapy. Everybody I talked to told me that I should expect to have to do physical therapy for a while once the main ordeal is over. To my surprise, and immense relief, my doctor told me I shouldn’t need physical therapy. I have been given several exercises to perform multiple times a day from now until my next follow-up, and as long as I do well with those I shouldn’t require any additional therapy.</p>
<p>So, as you might imagine, I’m quite pleased.</p>
<p>Friday night I traveled up and down steps for the first time since the accident. And likewise, though only for a quick jaunt up the road to the lake, I was able to drive my truck. Though there was some discomfort, the only real feelings I had were ones of relief and pleasure. I’m officially on the mend.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/2019-01-21/firstclutch.jpg" alt="Driving again" /></p>
<p>#OneClutchOneCrutch</p>
Mon, 21 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000That Time I Blew Through 26k in a Split Secondhttps://nathandyer.me/2019/01/19/my_26k_day.html
https://nathandyer.me/2019/01/19/my_26k_day.html<p>Yesterday I picked up my hospital bill and a human-readable itemized list of everything I paid for while at the hopsital the day I fell, broke three bones in my ankle, and had to have emergency surgery. Typically, the bills you receive list only specialized numerical hospital codes or combined totals that don’t give you any real idea of what it is that you have unwittingly purchased, but I needed this itemized list for both insurance purposes and general curiosity on my part. One thing I’ve noticed is that people don’t talk about their medical bills or share pricing, particularly in the U.S. where outrageous medical bills are generally agreed to be the worst of any well-developed country in the world. So, as both a way to vent frustration and as an interesting exercise, I thought I’d post my full itemized bill for the world to see. It’s embedded below <a href="https://nathandyer.me/attachments/Nathan_Ankle_Total_Amended.pdf">(or you can click here, people whose mobile web browsers don’t support PDF embeds)</a>.</p>
<embed style="display: block; margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 10px;" src="https://nathandyer.me/attachments/Nathan_Ankle_Total_Amended.pdf" width="900" height="640" type="application/pdf" />
<p>I am about the farthest thing from a medical professional that exists on the planet (despite my endless hours watching <em>House M.D.</em>, <em>Ambulance</em>, and <em>24 Hours in A&amp;E</em>), but some of the interesting (though potentially mistaken) takeaways are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Apparently I had to buy the drill bits they used in my surgery for between $400-$1500 each</li>
<li>A $380 ‘Anesthesia Supply Basket’</li>
<li>12 screws that they drilled into my bones that ranged from $148 a piece up to $887 (which I bought two of)</li>
<li>$994.40 for 45 minutes in the recovery room after surgery (to be fair I <em>did</em> drink a miniature can of <em>Sprite</em> soda, so really it was a bargain)</li>
<li>It would seem that the going rate for a shot of morphine is $13.61. Which I suppose if you compare to the prices of everything else is a complete steal</li>
</ul>
<p>I don’t know how to feel about all of this. I’m partially angry about how absurd the pricing of basic healthcare in America is, and I’m frustrated by feeling like there was nothing that could possibly have been done to avoid it because accidents happen, but at the same time I’m oddly relieved that my hospital bill is as “low” as it is.</p>
<p>1 split-second fall on black ice saw me lose $26k instantly. It’s like, I could either just go out and buy my dream car that I’ve been wanting for years, or I could have a quick tumble and enjoy a couple months of pain and difficult movement. I clearly made the wrong decision.</p>
<p>Thankfully, I have pretty good insurance through my employer, so I don’t actually have to pay the full $26k on my own. They paid nearly $20k, so I’m only on the hook for $5805 out of my own pocket, and I can work out a payment plan with the hospital. But still, that’s a huge amount of money, and it will be hanging over my head for a while. I was wanting to pay off my truck this year, and do some renovations on my house, but this will delay all that for a while.</p>
<p>But, as I said, I’m thankful. For some people, this would be absolutely devestating for their lives. They wouldn’t be able to pay this back for ages, if ever. Plus, a lot of people would have lost money from being out of work - thankfully I have a good job and some sick/vacation time built up, so I won’t lose any of my normal income. At the end of the day, I’m unbelievably fortunate in the big picture - but man paying for healthcare in America sucks.</p>
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0000Reflecting on 2018 and Hopes for the Year to Comehttps://nathandyer.me/2018/12/31/new_years_melancholy.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/12/31/new_years_melancholy.html<p>Here I am staring down the proverbial tunnel, face-to-face with the inevitable end of yet another year. I always feel a knot in my stomach when it really dawns on me that another year of my life has just vanished, in many respects without a trace, but this year that feeling is particularly bad. For one, there’s an added sense of helplessness thanks to my busted up, momentarily useless leg. I haven’t been in my house in several weeks, and cannot return for several more. That sense of longing to return home amplifies the overall melancholy of this time of year. But there’s also the general disappointment in me having not accomplished all that I set out to do.</p>
<p>Every year since I was in high school, I’ve written down a list of what I want to accomplish in a given year. I never really intend to complete all the goals, but they give me a general sense of direction. 2018 was hit and miss. One of my goals was to not be afraid to drive to new places and be less scared of putting myself in new situations while behind the wheel. That was a resounding success - this year I drove to several new cities for work and personal opportunities, and I made home visits to several new clients. I wanted to not be afraid to check my bank account regularly (I used to put it off until I absolutely <em>had</em> to, a terrible habit to find yourself in). While I didn’t check it every-other-day as my goal specifically listed, I did check it drammatically more, so I’m going to mark this as a spiritual win. I wanted to renovate my bathroom - check. I wanted to improve as a developer and open source contributor. Depression got in the way at the beginning of the year, but I’m very proud of how I turned it around. Not only did I rekindle my love for programming, but towards the second half of the year I overcame my minor bout of depression, started actively contributing again, and produced work I’m very proud of. Not only that, I am proud of the ways I improved as a developer. The biggest change I can point to is committing to no longer just pushing straight to master in Vocal, but instead now creating separate branches and opening pull requests. This not only lets me work on multiple issues simultaneously without having to merge them immediately, but it also makes it easier to see the code changes at a glance and improve the overall quality of the code that makes it in. So while I wish I could have done more, I’m happy with the changes that I have made.</p>
<p>But there are definite lapses and failures in my goals, no two ways about it. I didn’t make it to see the ocean this year. I didn’t find a romantic partner. I didn’t drammatically improve the quality of foods I put into my body (although I think mentally my attitude has shifted over the course of the year, and I’m on the right track to be able to tick that box next year). I’ve not saved quite as much as I wanted to have saved (though it’s not too far off), and I’ve not donated as much as I wanted to have donated (although here too, not too far off).</p>
<p>So that was my 2018. I had some successes, and some failures. That’s pretty much always going to be true. But it’s not just about my goals, I had a lot of life experiences that I enjoyed. I went on a camping trip and got some much needed R&amp;R. I officiated a wedding ceremony. I rekindled some old friendships. I had my first trip to Waffle House. I took my sister on a much-deserved kid-free shopping trip for her birthday. I visited Biltmore. I fixed up my house a bit and put in a secondary source of heat for when the power goes out. I improved my carpentry skills quite a bit, and improved some of my processes and techniques as a technician.</p>
<p>Still, I wish I had lived a bit more in 2018. I can’t help but think of it as kind of a “dud.” The last month in particular solidified it as a limbo-like year. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing. That having been said, I feel it was much better than 2017. In 2017 I was still dealing with losing a close family member, and the depression that followed. This year I at least was able to return to normalcy a bit more and finally get out of 2nd gear, so to speak.</p>
<p>So that’s what 2019 is really going to be about. I want to hit the ground running and not slow down. I have a lot of goals marked down for it. I have high hopes and high expectations.</p>
<p>I want to write here on this blog much more - at least once a week, if I can. I want to release a couple major versions of Vocal with big features. I want to rennovate my house further by putting down new flooring throughout, building a new deck and tearing down the rotten one, and I want to get a new washer and dryer (that actually work). I want to go on at least 5 camping trips. I want to see the ocean. I want to pay off my pickup truck. I want to save more money. I want to buy a crappy used car just for the fun of it. I want to stay awake later and stop going to bed so early. I want to spend more time in libraries and coffee shops. I want to eat more in local restaraunts. I want to cook more at home. I want to start exercising regularly. I still want to find someone in a romantic sense.</p>
<p>But more than anything, I just want to get better. I want my ankle to heal. I want my life to return to normal. I want to feel the clutch pedal underneath my foot and the wind through my hair. I want to return home to my own bed. I want to forget this whole thing ever happened.</p>
<p>Or maybe I don’t. What I really want is to see how this whole experience will change me. I can already feel a slight change in my temperment. I feel calmer, more patient, more appreciative. I don’t know if my accident will change me in any meaningful way, but it’s hard for me to see how a life experience like that couldn’t. As with all things, it’s a matter of time and patience. More than anything on my goal list for 2019, I just want to start off the new year by getting better and returning to some kind of routine.</p>
<p>Here’s to a happy, healthy, fun, productive, rollicking good 2019.</p>
Mon, 31 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000Nathan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day He Broke His Anklehttps://nathandyer.me/2018/12/13/ankle.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/12/13/ankle.html<h3 id="the-setup">The Setup</h3>
<p>Last week I started preparing for the worst winter storm to hit our area since 1996. Forecasters were calling for up to two feet of snow. I’d had a really awful winter last year, with pipes freezing, my only heat source continually breaking down, and generally just having a miserable time. This year, I vowed, would be different. I’d have at least two sources of heat that could keep me warm, even if we lost power. I’d have plenty of food on hand at all times. I’d keep water in the bathtub so I could flush a toilet or wash dishes (after boiling the water) if the power went out. I was prepared. I spent Saturday getting everything ready and making sure I was prepared for whatever mother nature dumped on me. From Saturday night until mid-day Monday I watched the snow pile up and enjoyed it all (even when the power did indeed go out for a couple hours).</p>
<p>Monday afternoon, after it stopped snowing, I went out and shoveled my sidewalk. I cleaned off my pickup truck so the sun could melt the ice that had formed on the windshield. The snow plow had piled up the snow about 3 feet high around my truck, so it was completely stuck. I figured I would be off from work Tuesday as well so I didn’t shovel it out, especially since I knew that I could go out and shovel right before I needed to leave if I did end up trying to work.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/1.jpeg" alt="My pickup truck, stuck" /></p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/2.jpeg" alt="My pickup truck, stuck" /></p>
<p>Fast-forward to Tuesday morning. I woke up around 5:30am like normal, got up, took a shower, and decided to go try and shovel out my truck. I didn’t much think I’d be able to get out of my driveway, but I figured I’d at least give it the old college try. The roads were freshly plowed and salted, so there was no reason not to report to work other than not being able to pull out.</p>
<p>I laced up my boots, grabbed my shovel, then went to the road. I spent about 20 minutes shoveling to the point where I was able to get into my truck. I started it up, put it in 4-wheel-drive, and was able to reverse it enough to where I could shovel out in front of it. From there, as long as I was in 4-wheel-drive and laid into the throttle, I figured I could probably get out.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/3.jpeg" alt="As last I saw my truck" /></p>
<p>So I finished shoveling, went back to my house, slung my backpack across my back, and then picked up my sneakers (I didn’t want to have to wear my heavy, soaking wet boots all day). And that’s when it all went wrong.</p>
<h3 id="break">Break</h3>
<p>I got to the top of my yard and started walking toward my truck. The snow beside me was still three feet tall from the plow, so I had no choice but to walk on the road. No big deal because it was clear and salted. Or so I thought.</p>
<p>What I didn’t see were the patches of black ice. My foot hit one such patch, and in a split second - quicker than you can say ‘Jack Robinson’ - it was over. There was no slow motion, there was no time to react or think, it was instantaneous; I slipped, I fell backwards, and brought all 280ish whopping pounds down on my left leg.</p>
<p>I heard the snap, almost like breaking celery in half, and I knew. It was thunderous. It was definite. I felt the pain explode through my body. My vision pulsed, the wind was knocked out of me, and I came to reset like a turtle upside down on his shell. I was laying in the middle of the road, resting against my backpack, my lower leg (or ankle, as it turned out) completely busted and unusable.</p>
<p>About that time a good samaritan in a Skybest (the local telecom company) truck came around the corner. Thankfully he spotted me in the road and stopped. He asked me if I was okay. “No,” I said. “I think I broke my leg. Will you call 911?”</p>
<p>While he called the ambulance I pulled out my phone. I was in action mode at that point. I had pure adrenaline coursing through my veins. First, I told Mom and Dad. “I just broke my leg,” I texted them. I also let my coworkers know. Again, I just posted a quick message in our Slack. “I just broke my leg.”</p>
<p>Then I made the call I dreaded most. I live beside my sister and knew she would see the ambulance. She is a natural worrier and tends to freak out when bad stuff happens, so I decided it was better for me to tell her directly than for her to just “find out.” So I dialed.</p>
<p>“Hello?”</p>
<p>“Hey sis! How’s it going?”</p>
<p>“Okay, what’s going on?”</p>
<p>“Well it’s no big deal, I don’t want to freak you out, but I think I just broke my leg, so don’t let the ambulance scare you.”</p>
<p>“Are you serious?!”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“Nathan?!?!”</p>
<p>I hung up on her and got back to the situation at hand. The good samaritan, who we’ll call “Adam” (because that’s his name), told me the ambulance would get here as quickly as they could. Living on top of a mountain has its perks, but short response times in emergencies is not one of them. The next few minutes’ series of events all run together, so I’m not sure what happened when. Both of my parents called me at some point to ask if I was serious. One exchange with Dad was particularly memorable. “Where are you?” He asked. “In the road,” I absentmindedly replied. Mom handled everything surprisingly well. She told me she would meet me at the hospital (I didn’t need her to, but I knew it was useless to protest). I realized that my truck was still running, so I asked Adam to please turn it off for me and bring me the key, which he did. He was worried about me still laying in the road. I tried and tried, but just could not move my foot. I wasn’t half as cold as he thought I was. It’s almost impossible for me to get cold, I’m a big fat guy and grew up in the mountains, so it’s hard to make me cold. But he really wanted me to get somewhere warm (and out of the road). I ended up being able to “crab walk” over to his truck, where I rested against his door and could feel some of the heat.</p>
<p>At that point I saw a head bobbing up the driveway, and knew that my sister must have decided to come take a look. She started crying when she saw me, but then she pulled it together. Against my wishes, she tied a really frilly and feminine scarf around my neck. I had to keep yelling at her to stay away from the black ice. She’s always been an awesome sister and looks after me, so I can’t complain.</p>
<p>Around that time, a first responder shows up. “I’m gonna have to cut yer britches off,” he tells me. No problem. My sister uses this opportunity to sneak away and take a picture of me, lying in the road, a first responder cutting my pants leg.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/4.jpeg" alt="Me, in the road" /></p>
<p>At that point I had been out in the 25 degree weather for about half an hour. They decided I needed to be moved inside. They wrestled to get me on a canvas gurney, then a team of six or seven people (most of them also good samaritans who had the misfortune of having the road blocked on their way to work) carried me into my house. I was shaking pretty badly, primarily from the cold. More first responders showed up. They began to check my vitals. I answered all their medical questions. They wanted to get an IV in so they could give me morphine, but they had trouble finding a vein that would work. They ended up sticking me four times before finding one that did the trick (the two in my hand hurt tremendously, almost worse than my foot!). They checked my blood glucose levels. Before it was all said and done, I had been stuck six or seven times. Not a great start to the day.</p>
<p>I found out they were taking me to a different hospital, so I called Mom and told her to go to Boone. About that time EMS showed up. They carried me back up through my yard into the ambulance. They kept sliding on the ice and snow. A few different times I noticed I had dropped down, and could feel the cold snow under my back.</p>
<p>Of course, with every bump, drop, or jostle, the pain in my foot was excruciating.</p>
<p>Finally, I got loaded onto the ambulance, locked into place, and I was on my way.</p>
<h3 id="hospital">Hospital</h3>
<p>After a thirty or forty minute ambulance ride, I arrived at the hopsital. “Your mother is already here,” the tell me. “How bad is she on a scale from 1-10?” I ask them, a riff on similar questions that they kept asking me (<em>“How’s your pain from 1-10?”</em>). They laugh. They roll my gurney into a room and transfer me over to the hospital bed. They give me some more morphine. At this point, it’s a waiting game. I pull out my phone and see I have a million missed messages. Coworkers asking me if I’m being serious. Asking for updates. I jump back onto Slack. I notice that my boss has sent me a message that he stopped by the hospital to check on me (I’m not sucking up here, I really have the best boss in the world - the hospital is the next town over, he’s gone out of his way to come check on me). I thank him and tell him that I’m fine. He says he’s not leaving until they let him lay eyes on me. They send Mom back and we talk. I had managed to be extra tough and manly all morning long, but as soon as I see Mom I start crying for some stupid reason. I get another message from my boss. <em>Your Dad just came in.</em> I’m surprised, Dad works two hours away and is super busy. I didn’t ask him to come. but he did. They let him come on back.</p>
<p>Soon, they come in to do X-Rays. That is pure torture and agony. They have to bend my foot in ways it no longer is meant to go. The radiologist reviews the pictures in the room, my parents looking over her shoulder. I see Dad grimmace. I see the radiologist grimmace. I already was positive that it was broken, but now any remaining shred of doubt is eviscerated. “Is it broken,” I ask, already knowing the answer. “I’m not allowed to say - but it’s usually smart to trust your instincts.” Mom and Dad look at me and nod. It’s broken. Badly. I hear Dad whisper the word “surgery.” It’s the first time that has really entered my mind.</p>
<p>Soon they let my boss come back and see me. “I would have given you the day off, you know,” he tells me. He jokes with my parents about my method of informing them of my accident. Then he wishes me the best and heads back to the office. He’s the last visitor I see. I’m later told more people come to the waiting room, but they’re never sent back. By that point I’m pretty worn out and not much in the mood for company.</p>
<p>The doctors periodically give me more morphine. Each time, it’s a blessing. The pain is awful. I’m starving. All morning long, people ask me about the last time I had something to eat or drink. “No food since dinner last night,” I tell them.</p>
<p>Soon the orthopedist comes to see me. He brings my X-rays and tells me the bad news. I’ve managed to break two bones, in three different places. It’s bad. I need surgery. He’s hoping to get me in either the same day, or the day after. Another couple of hours go by, then the surgeon comes to see me. He tells me that I’ll be in surgery late in the afternoon, then can go home the same day. I’m amazed by the news, and thankful I don’t have to wait around too much. The day goes by and we still don’t hear anything. We grow impatient. Finally, around 6pm, they come and tell me that they’ll be taking me straight to the operating room (instead of a waiting area) when the time comes. Another hour later, they come and get me. They push my bed into the operating room, where I get to answer the same serious of questions for the billionth time that day.</p>
<p>That’s pretty much the last thing I remember. The anesthesiologists started messing around with stuff and at some point along the way, I go under. I wake up a couple hours later, well-rested and not able to remember a thing. They tell me that I was talking to them about “Jurrassic Park stuff.” I can’t imagine what I would have said. I’d love to know. I like Jurrassic Park as much as the next guy, but I haven’t thought about it really in ten years, so I guess maybe I thought Dinosaurs were chasing me or something? Who knows.</p>
<p>I have abslutely no pain in my leg. They explain that it’s a spinal block (an epidural) that cuts off all feeling in that leg. I can’t even feel it when they touch my toes. When it wears off it will be a royal pain, but until then, I’m in bliss. I drink a <em>Sprite</em>. They start pushing me to an outpatient room. As soon as I exit the OR, I see Dad standing in the hallway, looking at me. In my drunken state I just raise my soda can. <em>Cheers.</em> We made it.</p>
<p>We turn the corner and I see my sister in the next hallway. She had driven out to see me. I’d accidentally blocked their drive way with my truck. My sister can’t drive a stick, so it had just sat there in the way all day. I’m later told that when her husband got home, it took him over 30 minutes to get it moved. I wouldn’t have been able to make it into work any way! I should have just stayed inside.</p>
<p>After I get settled in and talk with them for a few minutes, my folks show me the new X-Rays.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/5.jpeg" alt="A few screws loose" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/6.jpeg" alt="A few screws loose" /></p>
<p>I now have two new rods and nine new screws in my leg. At last, my journey to becoming a cyborg is complete.</p>
<p>After about 30 minutes they let me go home. They wheel me down, help me into the car, and we drive away. Mom stops at the Taco Bell drive-thru and lets me get something to eat - I’m still starving and still have an appetite. I scarf down a burrito, then fall asleep. When I arrive at this home it’s a little after 1am.</p>
<h3 id="aftermath-and-lessons-learned">Aftermath and Lessons Learned</h3>
<p>Yesterday (the day following my surgery) was a rollercoaster. Absolutely agonizing, miserable pain in the morning, but tolerable pain in the afternoon. I ate well. I slept the whole night. On the whole, it could be worse.</p>
<p>People keep coming to visit. I’ve had the same conversation ten times by now:</p>
<p>Them: “At least you can still drive.”</p>
<p>Me, depressed: “I drive a stick.”</p>
<p>Them: <em>Awkward silcence.</em> “Oh.”</p>
<p>I really am bummed about that. Driving is my favorite activity in the world, and not being able to drive my truck for a while is a bummer. My parents have an automatic PT Cruiser I can use in the meantime, but it’s just not the same.</p>
<p>I only have a splint on my leg. I go back to the doctor in 10 days to get my stitches removed and get fitted for either a boot or a cast. Until then, I can’t really leave my house. I’m stuck here on this recliner for a week solid.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/ankle/7.jpeg" alt="Stuck" /></p>
<p>I can’t really go back to my house for a while, which I’m obviously very bummed about. I love my parents (and their house), but it sucks knowing you can’t go home. At some point I’ll have to pick up some stuff, or have someone pick it up for me. Christmas will be challenging. Everyone’s presents are at my house, and they’re not wrapped, and in general coordinating all that stuff will be a real challenge.</p>
<p>I’m also obviously worried about paying for everything. I have insurance, and I think my Dad’s insurance carries me for “critical” emergencies, so I’m hopeful most of it will be paid for, but this will still end up costing me thousands of dollars. God bless America, the last bastion against the scourge of socialized medicine. But right now I’m just focused on feeling better and getting mobile again.</p>
<p>In general though, I’ve made some observations and learned some lessons over the past few days:</p>
<ul>
<li>Everything can change in a literal second, and there’s nothing you can do about it.</li>
<li>I’m very thankful for the friends and family who have gone out of their way to check on me and come see me.</li>
<li>I had no business trying to go to work that day. I should have stayed inside. I had the vacation time, and my boss didn’t mind me taking a day. The only reason I was trying was because I didn’t want to be made fun by my coworkers or have to hear anyone say “don’t be such a wuss, you’ve got a 4-wheel-drive!” I know one thing, from here on out I really don’t care about that. Yes, I am a wuss, I’m clumsy, I hate bad weather, and if I don’t have to go to work on days of inclimate weather, I just ain’t gonna.</li>
<li>It’s amazing how cold and uncaring some people can be (without even realizing it) when you’ve had something like that happen. I’ve had a couple people reach out to me and say “I’m sorry to hear about your accident. But while I have your attention, I’ve been having this problem with my computer…” Give me a minute folks, jiminy.</li>
<li>You shouldn’t put stuff off. I had put off washing dishes and taking out my trash because I knew I could do it later, but now my house is a mess and someone else will have to clean it up. It’s embarrassing and I hate asking people to do that for me.</li>
<li>As much as I love physical books and physical media, having digital copies of all your stuff is a real blessing. No matter where you get stuck, you can still have access to it. I’m extra thankful for my laptop and Kindle right now.</li>
<li>USB-C is also a blessing, but unfortunately it’s not a blessing I have right now. At the present moment I can’t use my laptop, even though I have it in my backpack, because my stupid charger is at work and it uses a proprietary connector. If my laptop supported USB-C I’d either have a charger with me (in which case I do actually have one in my backpack), or I could have someone run out and get me any old generic USB-C charger with a high enough amperage. My next laptop <em>will</em> have USB-C. In the meantime, I’m stuck using my parents’ laptop and will have to arrange some kind of rendezvous to get a charger to me.</li>
</ul>
<p>I want to say again, thanks to everyone for the calls and messages to tell me you’re thinking of me. They’re all really appreciated. I’ll be back in the full swing of things in no time. Until then, I’m watching Doctor Who in my underwear. It ain’t all bad.</p>
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0000Looking Back On My Camping Triphttps://nathandyer.me/2018/11/25/camping.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/11/25/camping.html<p>After not having had a vacation in over two years I decided that this year, no matter what, I was going to get away for a week. I contemplated a few different options, but ultimately I decided I needed to scratch an itch I had developed recently and give camping the old college try. Although I had gone camping with my parents in an RV many times as a kid, I’d never gone tent camping, and I’d never really “roughed it” on my own.</p>
<p>I wanted to go somewhere without an internet connection, with no access to technology, and make a genuine attempt to unplug for a few days. I had grown frustrated and needed to unwind and reflect on things. I needed to stock of where my life was, where I wanted to go, and how I wanted to get there.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/0p1.jpg" alt="Camping supplies" /></p>
<p>So I did what any self-respecting budding outdoorsman would do: I went to the store and bought pretty much anything I thought might be useful.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/0p2.jpg" alt="My reading list" /></p>
<p>I also purchased a set of books I had been meaning to read for some time, and decided on the lofty goal of reading one per day.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/1.jpeg" alt="On first assembly" /></p>
<p>When the day finally arrived I loaded up in my pickup truck and headed to the campground (at <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/356841438">Warrior’s Path State Park in Kingsport, TN</a>). This was the Monday that hurricane Florence was hitting Western NC / East TN and people said I was nuts for heading out to camp in the storm, but I decided I could beat the heavier rain showers if I hurried and got set up, and as it turns out I was (mostly) right. I got to the campground and was able to almost finish setting up my tent before the rain set in again. If I hadn’t made the mistake of following the directions by not putting the tent pegs in before inserting the poles (it’s way easier and quicker to put the pegs in first), I would have made it before any rain, but alas, these are the things you learn as a tent camping virgin.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/2.jpeg" alt="On first assembly" /></p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/3.jpeg" alt="Chillaxing" /></p>
<p>I started getting settled in. Unfortunately, the rain picked up and I retreated to my tent for a few hours.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/5.jpeg" alt="Lantern" /></p>
<p>The sound of rain in the tent was amazing. I captured a bit of it on (shaky) video.</p>
<video width="640" height="360" style="display: block; margin: 0 auto; padding-bottom: 10px;" controls="">
<source src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/4.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
There should be a video of rain falling on a tent here. If not, your browser may not support the video tag.
</video>
<p>The next day the rain disappeared and from then on, for the next week, it was nothing but pure sunshine.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/6.jpg" alt="Sunshine" /></p>
<p>The first day I decided I’d spend the morning eating breakfast at Waffle House and collecting supplies I had forgotten or not even considered (for example, I somehow completely forgot to bring pillows to sleep on). That evening I cooked steak over charcoal.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/7.jpeg" alt="Cooking steaks" /></p>
<p>Then I made a lovely cup of hot chocolate and enjoyed a campfire.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/8.jpg" alt="Hot chocolate and fire" /></p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/9.jpeg" alt="Hot chocolate and fire" /></p>
<p>For the next week I spent my days reading, cooking, hiking, and napping. Not too shabby. I walked down to the lake a couple times.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/10.jpeg" alt="The lake" /></p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/11.jpeg" alt="The lake" /></p>
<p>I snapped a selfie on one of my last days of the trip.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/12.jpeg" alt="Camping selfie" /></p>
<p>Packing up on the last day was the worst part of it. The tent was wet and covered in ants, and it took a few hours to vacate the site. I snapped one last pic as I left.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/13.jpeg" alt="Looking back" /></p>
<p>Back at home, I was in agony over my bug bites. Here’s just a small sample of what my body looked like. Next time I’ll be sure and use bug spray.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/camping2018/14.jpeg" alt="Bug bites" /></p>
<p>I had a rollicking good time on my trip, and it did me a tremendous amount of good. I came back rested, rejuvenated, and more determined. It was also just plain fun. I can’t wait to go camping more next year. Spring can’t roll around quickly enough.</p>
<h2 id="book-reviews">Book Reviews</h2>
<h3 id="the-day-of-the-doctor-by-steven-moffat">The Day of the Doctor by Steven Moffat</h3>
<p>I bought this book because I wanted to have a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction, and since I love the <em>Doctor Who</em> episode so much (and this was written by Steven Moffat) I figured I’d enjoy the book. The truth is, I kind of found it annoying. What can I say, it was fine, I just don’t particularly enjoy reading fiction. It was good, but watching the episode is just fine. Although there were a couple additional scenes, there was nothing mind blowing here. 3/5</p>
<h3 id="the-varities-of-scientific-experience-a-personal-view-of-the-search-for-god-by-carl-sagan">The Varities of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan</h3>
<p>I went into this expecting more of what Carl Sagan is known for: connecting big scientific ideas to human experience and feelings. This one ended up being drier than I expected, particularly of Sagan, and focused more heavily on the science than I would have liked. I know this is taken from a series of lectures he did, but at the end of the day I just didn’t connect to it the way I had hoped I might. I much preferred Sagan’s other books, especially <em>Billions &amp; Billions</em> and <em>Pale Blue Dot</em>, and other books on similar subjects have done a better job. 3/5</p>
<h3 id="tales-from-out-there-by-frozen-ed-furtaw">Tales from Out There by Frozen Ed Furtaw</h3>
<p>I’ve been obsessed with the Barkley Marathons, and in particular the race director Lazarus Lake, for a few years now, so diving into this book while out in nature was an absolute joy. While reading about the history of the race was interesting enough, I’ve found myself marking countless quotes that I especially enjoyed, such as “briers give you fewer scratches than you would get baptizing a cat.” It also had a lot to say (if not always explicitly) about what it takes to be successful, and how one should handle failure. It was probably my favorite book I read on the trip, and is one of my favorites in general. 5/5</p>
<h3 id="kitchen-confidental">Kitchen Confidental</h3>
<p>This was probably the most fun I had reading on the trip. I consider Anthony Bourdain one of my favorite writers. His elegant, flowing sentences have a nearly poetic feel to them (often profanity-laced, mind you). The rawness he writes about the restaraunt business with, coupled with some of his amazing stories, make this a more exciting read than it really should have been. He has a lot to say about tenacity and work ethic. It was exactly what I needed to read. Another one of my all-time favorites now. 5/5</p>
<h3 id="everything-happens-for-a-reason-by-kate-bowler">Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler</h3>
<p>I expected to be uplifted or given a raw look at someone close to death, but I found very little of substance in this book to be honest. Other books, like <em>Mortality</em> by Christopher Hitchens or <em>Smoke Gets in Your Eyes</em> by Caitlin Doughty, give a much better look at sickness and death. 2/5.</p>
<h3 id="the-summer-book-by-tove-jansson">The Summer Book by Tove Jansson</h3>
<p>I don’t understand the appeal of this book. It wasn’t interesteing, it wasn’t poetic, it wasn’t insightful, it was just bland and boring. I’m sure it’s brilliant because people keep telling me it is, but it just ain’t for me. 1/5</p>
<h3 id="killing-it-by-camas-davis">Killing It by Camas Davis</h3>
<p>I’ll be honest, I still haven’t made it all the way through this book. It’s not what I expected, but I’m not sure that it’s bad. There is a part of me that would love to be a butcher (weird, I know) so I thought this would be an interesting book about what it takes to become a butcher, and examine some ethical questions about it. So far (and I’m over halfway) it’s about a rich white woman who goes to France and eats fancy food. So far, 2/5</p>
Sun, 25 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000The Summer of the Bathroomhttps://nathandyer.me/2018/10/02/the-bathroom.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/10/02/the-bathroom.html<p>Since moving into my house “for real” over two years ago, the most urgent, much-needed renovation was my bathroom. When my house was originally built it featured a wrap-around porch and no indoor bathroom (think outhouse). Eventually, part of the porch was turned into a bathroom. I believe the bathroom came along some time in the 50s, then it was remodeled in the 70s. Since then, it hasn’t been touched. Until now.</p>
<p>Warning: gross pics ahead.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/1.jpeg" alt="Bathroom starting point" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/2.jpeg" alt="Shower starting point" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/4.jpeg" alt="Entrance Corner" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/6.jpeg" alt="Bathroom starting point" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/7.jpeg" alt="Toilet stains" /></p>
<p>Here, you can see the bathroom at its starting point. The stains in the toilet were permanent (the filth ate into the porcelin I suppose). No matter how much scrubbing I did, no matter what tools I used, nothing could get the stains out of the bottom, which made it look like it was always filthy. It grossed me out so bad.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/3.jpeg" alt="Shower wall" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/5.jpeg" alt="The tub" /></p>
<p>The tub was shorter than the walls, so a weird makeshift board was shimmied and caulked. Water liked to hide in the crevices and turn everything a really putrid brown color. This grungey photo was taken not too long after I bleached the caulk.</p>
<p>The custom vanity/cabinet was made out of cheap plywood. It actually held up okay for forty years, but it needed to go.</p>
<h2 id="the-beginning">The Beginning</h2>
<p>After trying to find a contractor, I decided to call up an old family friend who has done several jobs for us in the past. After a few false starts, he eventually showed up on May 7th and the demolition began.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/8.jpeg" alt="Rotten toilet hole" /></p>
<p>Much to my fear, the floor around the toilet was completely rotted out. When my grandfather put the toilet in all those years ago he had neglected to use a flange. It was horrific.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/9.jpeg" alt="Ripping out carpet" /></p>
<p>Luckily, the vanity came out pretty easily.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/10.jpeg" alt="The first evening's carnage" /></p>
<p>After a single evening, the bathroom was more or less demolished. I thanked my contractor, went to my parents’ house (so I could stay somewhere with a bathroom), then went to work the next day and expected to see my contractor that evening.</p>
<p>I didn’t.</p>
<h2 id="the-horror-show">The Horror Show</h2>
<p>After several calls and back-and-forth chats, he eventually showed by up a week or two later, on May 18th. In the interim I had attempted to use my downstairs bathroom (which is minimally functional), but the toilet overflowed and I was trying to avoid it by staying with my parents for a few weeks. Although it was nice to be back with the folks, I wanted to go back home, so I moved back and learned the subtle manipulations my downstairs toilet required to not overflow.</p>
<p>By the time he returned I had taken most of the wallpaper off the wall, so once he showed up everything could be knocked out super fast. Or at least that was the way I had envisioned it.</p>
<p>On May 19th he returned and started ripping out the rotten wood. Not only was the plywood bad, but so was some of the subflooring. Luckily, the joists were okay (as I would soon find out, they were pretty much the only things in decent shape).</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/11.jpeg" alt="The pit" /></p>
<p>With that, I had an open pit in my house down into what I lovingly refer to as my ‘snake hole’ (crawlspace) in my house, which in addition to letting any slithering beast into my house that wanted to visit (I now have a resident snake that likes to shed its skin and crap everywhere, but I can’t find him), it made the entire house smell like dirt and insulation.</p>
<p>Naturally, I assumed my contractor would be there in the next day or two. But he wasn’t.</p>
<p>That’s the last I’ve seen of him.</p>
<h2 id="a-new-beginning">A New Beginning</h2>
<p>I contacted another contractor (who has been really good, I’ll tell you up front). He inspected my house the day I called him, but told me I’d have to have a plumber look at the plumbing. It turns out, I had PVC going into a really strange cast iron “boot,” which then went out a copper pipe to the septic take. The plumber determined that nothing was salvagable, so I had to have all the plumbing redone. This was a horror show, but at least there was some forward momentum.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/12.jpeg" alt="Forward progress" /></p>
<p>Fast forward to June 9th, with the plumbing done. I let my contractor know, and he scheduled to come out and work on my house ASAP. By June 18th, I finally had drywall up and new subflooring down.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/13.jpeg" alt="Forward progress" /></p>
<p>Come to find out, they never properly framed the walls in my shower. Plus, the original wood siding from when my bathroom was a deck remained, and instead of making things perfectly flush, they just half-did the wall (which is what that dumb shim was for that I mentioned at the beginning). My contractor had to completely reframe it all.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/14.jpeg" alt="Newly framed shower" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/15.jpeg" alt="More of my new shower frame" /></p>
<h2 id="progress">Progress</h2>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/16.jpeg" alt="Forward progress" /></p>
<p>On June 26th things were looking up. He began to finish the drywall for me. June 28th brought a vanity light fixture and my flooring.</p>
<p>I spent the night of July 2nd painting my bathroom.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/18.jpeg" alt="Shower plumbing" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/19.jpeg" alt="Basic arrangement pre-plumbing" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/20.jpeg" alt="My new toilet" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/21.jpeg" alt="My new sink, almost in" /></p>
<p>My plumbers returned to connect my toilet, vanity, and shower on July 5th. Finally, after over two months, I had a fully-functional toilet.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/22.jpeg" alt="New vanity lights" /></p>
<p>I wired my own vanity lights.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/23.jpeg" alt="Getting closer" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/24.jpeg" alt="Still getting closer" /></p>
<p>All that remained was getting my shower tile installed, which was easier said than done. I had to wait a couple weeks because at that point I was low on funds, but my monthly pay-day arrived and I called an friend from school to help me with the tile work.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/25.jpeg" alt="Needs more tile" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/26.jpeg" alt="Almost a shower" />
<img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/27.JPG" alt="New faucets" /></p>
<p>Finally, after nearly five months of bathroom reno hell, I celebrated my first shower.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/bathroom/28.jpeg" alt="Enjoying a beverage in the shower" /></p>
<p>Total victory.</p>
Tue, 02 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000Instagram Post on 2018-06-14https://nathandyer.me/2018/06/14/BkBzcVkATGJ.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/06/14/BkBzcVkATGJ.html<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BkBzcVkATGJ/" data-instgrm-version="8" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50.0% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAABGdBTUEAALGPC/xhBQAAAAFzUkdCAK7OHOkAAAAMUExURczMzPf399fX1+bm5mzY9AMAAADiSURBVDjLvZXbEsMgCES5/P8/t9FuRVCRmU73JWlzosgSIIZURCjo/ad+EQJJB4Hv8BFt+IDpQoCx1wjOSBFhh2XssxEIYn3ulI/6MNReE07UIWJEv8UEOWDS88LY97kqyTliJKKtuYBbruAyVh5wOHiXmpi5we58Ek028czwyuQdLKPG1Bkb4NnM+VeAnfHqn1k4+GPT6uGQcvu2h2OVuIf/gWUFyy8OWEpdyZSa3aVCqpVoVvzZZ2VTnn2wU8qzVjDDetO90GSy9mVLqtgYSy231MxrY6I2gGqjrTY0L8fxCxfCBbhWrsYYAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BkBzcVkATGJ/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">First ever visit to a Waffle House. It lived up to the hype from the Anthony Bourdain clip.</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nathandyer_me/" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Nathan Dyer</a> (@nathandyer_me) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-06-15T02:15:11+00:00">Jun 14, 2018 at 7:15pm PDT</time></p></div></blockquote>
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Thu, 14 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000System76 Galago Pro Reviewhttps://nathandyer.me/2018/04/06/galago-pro-review.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/04/06/galago-pro-review.html<p>(Small disclaimer up front: I’m a huge fan of System76, have been to their office on several occasions, and am friends with a number of people on their staff so I admit to a certain amount of bias. That said, I made every attempt to be purely objective here in my review.)</p>
<p>I’ve had my <a href="https://system76.com/laptops/galago">System76 Galago Pro</a> laptop for about five months now, and figured it was as good as time as any to go ahead and jot down my thoughts on the laptop. It’s hard to really know how you feel about such an important machine right from the get-go. If you’re like me, you spend most of your day staring at and interacting with your “daily driver”, and only after a few months can you know how you genuinely feel about it.</p>
<p>I’ll go ahead and tell you that it’s my favorite laptop that I’ve had in ages. It’s a nearly perfect device for me, but at the same time I’m not sure that it would be a perfect device for everyone. And I’ll explain why.</p>
<h2 id="physical-design-and-build-quality">Physical Design and Build Quality</h2>
<p>There is something about the look of the laptop that I am absolutely in love with, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Perhaps it’s the angle of the hinge, or the stylish System76 logo on the lid, or the perfect balance between elegant design and industrialism, but there is something about the overall look of the laptop that I prefer even over MacBooks.</p>
<p>I had a few problems with my previous laptop, a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, and they are all solved here. Annoyingly, the rubber strip on the bottom to keep the laptop from sliding on a table started losing its adhesive on my XPS 13, and for years every time you’d touch the laptop your hands would get super sticky with glue. The rubber strip on the bottom of the Galago, however, is nice and large, and hasn’t budged an inch. No glue residue to speak of. The XPS 13 also had some serious cooling issues because (almost all of) the ventilation was done through the bottom vent which inevitably got covered when sitting on your lap, or resting on a blanket, or even on certain tables. Wonderfully, though, it seems that the Galago intakes air through the bottom, which then flows out via a large and very effective vent near the hinge area. There are times when the fans turn on and it’s noticeably loud, but it doesn’t do that annoyingly often, and I love knowing how well it’s cooling the laptop when it is running.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/2018-04-06/vents.jpeg" alt="The vents inside the hinge" /></p>
<p>I love the fact that this laptop has actual LEDs on the front to show me when it’s powered on and when it’s accessing the SSD. I find that information extremely useful in day-to-day operation, and am sad that the trend these days is to remove these indicators in favor of an uninterrupted slab of aluminum.</p>
<h2 id="display">Display</h2>
<p>What can I say, the display is just absolutely gorgeous. This HiDPI display has a native resolution of 3200x1600, which means everything appears at the scale of a 1600x900 display, the definitive ideal resolution for a display this size (the XPS 13 had a 1080p display at the same screen size and was just too darn small).</p>
<p>The colors are accurate and vivid, the viewing angles are great, and it gets super bright. All around, I can’t say enough good things about the built-in display. Text is crisp and images are gorgeous. It honestly looks better than the MacBook Pro Retina that I use for work.</p>
<p>The only complaint, and this probably falls more in the area of performance, is that running at that resolution makes everything feel ever-so-slightly sluggish due to the fact that there’s not a dedicated graphics card handling that extra work. Both Pantheon and GNOME Shell at times feel sluggish. If I’m in a mood where performance is especially important I sometimes do single monitor mode on an external 1080p display, and it flies. That said, it’s not so under-powered that using the built-in display is a hindrance. It’s mainly just the OS components that lag a bit, and I’m willing to bet 90% of people won’t notice it in the first place.</p>
<h2 id="keyboard-and-trackpad">Keyboard and Trackpad</h2>
<p>As far as laptop keyboards go, this is one of the better ones that I have used. There is a fair bit of travel and bounce, and it’s a much more enjoyable typing experience than my old XPS 13. I would say that it’s either on par or slightly better than the MacBook Pro keyboards (the classic style too, not just the new butterfly mechanisms). I absolutely love it. If I were to rank laptop keyboards through the ages I would go ThinkPad -&gt; Galago -&gt; MacBook -&gt; All Others.</p>
<p>The trackpad, unfortunately, is a different story.</p>
<p>The surface is plastic-y and dissatisfying to move your finger across, and is on the small side when compared to the trackpads you might find on both Apple laptops and the Dell XPS 13. I also don’t find the physical buttons very enjoyable to use. I much prefer the clickpad style. I think it’s fair to say that the trackpad is the most disappointing feature of the laptop.</p>
<p>That said, it’s not the worst trackpad I’ve ever used, and because I’m almost always connected to a mouse it’s certainly not a deal-breaker.</p>
<h2 id="speakers">Speakers</h2>
<p>The speakers are quiet and lack significant bass. They’ll do in a pinch, but they don’t pack anywhere near the punch of speakers in similar devices (or even my iPad Pro or iPhone).</p>
<h2 id="performance">Performance</h2>
<p>This laptop is very, very fast, particularly when you compare it with other ultrabooks or devices in a similar category. It can be configured with different processors, memory, and storage options so it’s hard to say definitively how fast it is, but mine is a quad-core with hyperthreading, so I end up with 8 virtual cores for execution. I went with 8GB of RAM, but the wonderful thing (and all-too-rare nowadays) is that I can open it up and throw in more memory any time I want, so I will probably upgrade to 16 or maybe even 32GB of RAM in the future.</p>
<p>Bottom line: this thing outperforms my MacBook Pro, and is the fastest machine I’ve ever owned. Sure, there are gaming laptops and desktops that will blow it out of the water, but for the size, form factor, and price, it does better than it really has any right doing.</p>
<h2 id="battery-life">Battery Life</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, I feel like this would be the deal-breaker for 90% of people, and justifiably so. On average I get around two hours of battery life on this thing. It’s not defective, that’s just the reality of having a comparatively small battery coupled with operating systems that just aren’t fine-tuned enough to eek out every extra bit of juice that it can. If I only use it for web browsing and take my time I can get close to three hours, but similarly I’ve seen a couple times where watching 1080p YouTube videos can cause it to last less than an hour and a half. I feel like in 2018 that’s kind of a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>That said, I use it all day long for work, and both at work and home it’s plugged into an AC adapter (I purchased an extra one for this reason), so battery life just doesn’t matter much to me any more. If I were still in college this probably wouldn’t work great for me, but I don’t really go to coffee shops or the library or anything, so battery life only slightly matters to me.</p>
<h2 id="ordering-and-delivering">Ordering and Delivering</h2>
<p>Ordering the laptop is one of the most pleasant and straight-forward processes that I’ve seen from from PC manufacturers. It’s easy to see and customize all your options, and checking out is dead simple as well. Browsing the catalog is great as well, so purely from the store aspect, ordering from System76 is lovely.</p>
<p>That said, the time between placing an order and having a computer show up at your door is way too long in my opinion. When you place the order they make a note that says something along the lines of “we build every single machine to order,” like it’s a point of pride, but the fact is that it takes around 3–5 days for them to build your machine before they even ship it. This sounds great, but let’s be honest for a minute: it’s not like I’m at Subway ordering a sandwich here, making it to order doesn’t provide me any direct benefit. And I completely understand that they need to do it this way in order to support all the various customization options, but I would imagine that for certain popular combinations (for example, the base model like I got) they might go ahead and make up a few ahead of time so they can ship them out relatively quickly. At the end of the day, I found myself without a computer for two weeks after ordering, and in this day and age that’s a genuine problem. I’m hoping that their new Denver-based manufacturing efforts can help speed up this process.</p>
<h2 id="other-comments">Other Comments</h2>
<p>I absolutely love the built-in ethernet jack. There are times when I need to plug into a network with a physical connection, and I love not having to use a dongle. Plus, the little flappy door is brilliant. I can see this being one of the pieces that wears out over time, but at least for now, I couldn’t be happier with it.</p>
<p>Also, holy cow is the unboxing experience wonderful. The box that arrives is really neat, and the artwork that <a href="https://twitter.com/kate_hazen">Kate Hazen</a> designed looks great and has an incredible amount of charm and personality. It makes the unboxing experience exciting and memorable, so hats of to them on it.</p>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/2018-04-06/shippingbox.jpeg" alt="The box System76 uses to ship laptops" /></p>
<h2 id="overall-thoughts-tldr">Overall Thoughts (TL;DR)</h2>
<p>I absolutely love my laptop. I love the way it looks. I love how it performs. I love that incredible HiDPI display. I wish it had better battery life, I wish the trackpad was much more enjoyable to use, and I wish the speakers had a little more “umphf” to them. That said, this thing is rugged, reliable, and a pleasure to interact with each day. It’s my favorite laptop in years.</p>
Fri, 06 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000Ode to the Cast Iron Skillethttps://nathandyer.me/2018/03/13/ode-to-the-cast-iron-skillet.html
https://nathandyer.me/2018/03/13/ode-to-the-cast-iron-skillet.html<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/2018-03-13/overfire.jpg" alt="“Two cast iron pans and a pot of water over an outdoor fire-lit stove outdoors with a hand mixing the water” by Teddy Kelley on Unsplash" /></p>
<p>I swear by various prized possessions, but perhaps none more than my favorite cast iron skillet. This skillet has been the starting point to nearly every meal I’ve cooked for myself as an adult. I’ve had a deeper, more serious, and more committed relationship with this heavy-duty piece of cookware than I have had with nearly every other human being on the planet.</p>
<p>Now this is not a freshly-purchased Lodge skillet that I picked up from the bargain bin at Wal-Mart to make myself feel sophisticated. And it certainly wasn’t purchased in an attempt to connect with some hipster-loving piece of my soul. In fact, I never purchased my cast iron skillet. The one I use every day was left behind by my grandmother after many years of dedicated service and good old fashioned county cookin’. The cast iron skillet is not some hipster fad, and is not an over-hyped trend. It is a tried and true staple that has served humans since at least the late 1800s.</p>
<p>There are reasonable people who say that a cast iron skillet is one of several important pieces of kitchen cookware, all with their own special use cases and unique abilities, then there are absolute lunatics who say that a cast iron skillet is the only frying pan or skillet you ever need to own. I am, of course, one such lunatic. A cast iron skillet is pretty much the only piece of cookware you need to own (okay, maybe a pot to make soup or pasta with, but that’s it!).</p>
<p>So why is cast iron so great? Let’s count the ways.</p>
<ol>
<li>You can use it on the top of the stove, as well as in the oven, as well as on a grill or over an open fire. Better yet, you can mix and match, and jump between heat sources as you wish. Nothing matches the versatility of a cast iron skillet.</li>
<li>It has unparalleled heat distribution and retention properties. These things get hot, spread the heat out relatively equally over the cooking surface, and they stay hot for ages. Great for leaving round 2 of your dinner in the pan to stay warm as you devour round 1.</li>
<li>Well-seasoned skillets have great non-stick properties, yet the surface provides a remarkable area for searing and browning food.</li>
<li>They are dependable and indestructible. You ever damaged a cast iron skillet? Bet you haven’t.</li>
<li>You can use them to cook literally everything. I own one cookbook in my house, and it’s just filled with recipes to use with cast iron skillets. You want pizza? It makes an amazing deep dish (or thin crust). Lasagna? Bingo. Mexican food? It will make fajitas so good your tongue will slap your brains out. Steak? Potatoes? I dare you to name something you can’t reasonably make better with a cast iron skillet.</li>
</ol>
<p><img src="https://nathandyer.me/img/2018-03-13/cookbook.jpeg" alt="My only cook book, dog-eared with the recipes for food I like to eat." /></p>
<p>Okay, fine, you say. But what about the downsides?</p>
<ol>
<li>You have to re-season them a couple times a year. I love re-seasoning day. The first day of Spring, when the weather is warm, I open all the windows of my house, scrub the old seasoning away, give it an oil massage, then stick it in the oven at 500 degrees and within an hour I have a perfectly seasoned skillet again. So what else you got?</li>
<li>They’re difficult to clean. Bullshit, you just have to know the technique.</li>
</ol>
<h2 id="nates-top-secret-cast-iron-cleanup-instructions">Nate’s Top-Secret Cast Iron Cleanup Instructions</h2>
<ol>
<li>Put kosher salt in one of those round, wooden bamboo holder thingys.</li>
<li>When your pan is dirty, while it’s still kinda warm but not hot, dump a liberal amount of the kosher salt into the dirty pan.</li>
<li>Take a warm, wet dish rag with little-to-no dish soap (a smidge is fine, but don’t use too much or you’ll damage the seasoning) and scrub that sucker using the salt as an abrasive.</li>
<li>Dump the guck into the bin and rinse with water.</li>
<li>Heat it up again to let the water evaporate so rust won’t collect. If you’re in a hurry, use a towel.</li>
</ol>
<p>Cast iron skillets are a gift to humankind and should be treated with the admiration and respect they deserve. If you have any anecdotes to share or similar expressions of love that you want to add, please be sure and leave a response.</p>
Tue, 13 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000